


Rusted From The Rain

by RedDevil6



Category: Supergirl (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AgentReign, Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/F, Multi, SuperCorp, vampire!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-06 02:04:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17336615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedDevil6/pseuds/RedDevil6
Summary: Krypton’s core wasn't been destabilized beyond repair. Val-El realized the grave effects of mining Krypton’s Uranium core & led the rebellion that overthrew the imperial council & with the rest of the guilds, formed the Guild Council. Alura In-Ze is High Chancellor and Kara Zor-El the youngest inductee into the science guild.After the vampirism plague had taken hold of the justice league & spread throughout all of Earth-43, many had grown dissatisfied with the now blood league & their partnership with LuthorCorp, the main supplier of synthetic HemoPlasma, a blood substitute to meet the feeding needs of the populous.Spearheading this movement, opposing her bloodthirsty mother & brother, was Lena Luthor. Lena & a large contingent of people from earth 43 were dissatisfied with how their reality had shifted & embarked on a mass exodus.What happens when the budding planet Thorul is short on technology that would be detrimental to their survival, a technology that krypton readily uses? Will a chance meeting between a vampiric Lena Luthor & a kryptonian Kara Zor-El under a yellow sun for the first time implicate both of them deeper than they assumed?





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> title from the song Rusted from the rain by billy talent (its an awesome song, have a listen if you want!)

Kara was beyond excited. Her mother had finally allowed her to travel to the neighboring star system for a diplomatic mission. Well, not exactly a neighboring star system, more like a satellite galaxy orbiting their own. She hadn’t heard much about Thorul of the Triangulum galaxy before but her aunt Astra’s crash course on what little they knew about them only served to make Kara even more intrigued. All Kara knew was that they were a constitutional monarchy and that their reigning queen had been on the throne since the inception of their ruling system, with a relatively small planet capital of only 300 thousand people. Unlike many other civilizations, the Thorulians didn’t have clear roots; no one really knew where they came from or how they came to inhabit the planet they branded as Thorul. Kara found that rather odd, even compared to Krypton’s long eventful history and more recently, it’s’ final war and oligarchy. But nevertheless, they had reached out in hopes of forming some amicable bonds between their two planets and Kara was hopeful.

The travel wouldn’t take long; she would be accompanied by her aunt Astra representing krypton’s High Chancellor and the Guild Council respectively to negotiate the terms of the agreement as well as the magnitude of the project. But for all intents and purposes, Kara was the face of the delegation and her mother’s emissary to Thorul.  
Alura and Zor-El stood side by side at the docking bays, ready to see off the pod and with it, their only daughter. And as the kryptonian pod took off, Kara’s nerves bounced erratically with unbridled excitement.

Their travel was not long but it was tiresome and minor delays caused them to arrive much later in the night than they had expected. As soon as their pod landed, Astra and Kara were herded off the docking platform and towards the inner parts of the capital. The city in itself was lit by solar powered lamps and fixtures and the streets filled with people even at such a late hour in the night. Kara and her aunt were sat in a luxurious tinted car, the hum of the engine was so quiet that it almost lulled the blonde into sleep. Kara was torn between sleep’s siren call and the wonder that had her eyes wide in mirth. The city, though dark, was an amalgamation of gothic high arches and techno-modern innovation. The streets were clean and well organized despite the somber yet ornate and conceptually transcendent aesthetic.

Intricate designs that meshed flawlessly with chrome accents and tinted crystals stole her breath away, mesmerized by the multicolored lights as they refracted through the gems. The flying buttresses and incredibly thorough carvings inspired a certain ethereality that Kara could not shake. Minutes went by and the Kryptonians found themselves pulling up through massive stone gates and into what Kara could only describe as a castle or cathedral fit for Rao himself.  Kara, robed in her traditional white kryptonian dress, stood mouth agape at the grander of the space. Before her was a massive build with three immense arches. The lateral arches were slightly smaller and housed narrow iron double doors whilst the middle arch housed the larger iron wrought entrance to the building.

Above each lintel were sculptures that seemed to reflect the past, present and future of Thorul; the left lateral arch sculpture depicting a violent scene where two factions fought, the middle arch sculpture was a miniaturized two-dimensional rendering of the building itself with the Thorulian flag and finally, the right lateral arch sculpture depicted a large crowd facing a prosperous city. 

Kara was rather impressed by the notion; the relief of the middle arch caught her eye, and she wondered whether it was simply an artistic choice or if the sculptures themselves held deeper connotations but her musing was cut short when Astra, having disembarked from the vehicle, nudged Kara a little harsher than she intended. Kara snapped back to reality, realizing that a woman had stepped out to meet them. Said woman was dressed sharply in a black suit, white shirt and red tie that contrasted both Kara’s white dress and her aunt’s black under-armor suit.

The woman stepped closer to the Kryptonians and flashed them a terse smile, she held out her hand towards Astra first, then towards Kara when Astra did not reach for it.

“you must be krypton’s emissaries; I’m Mercy Graves, the minister of foreign affairs” the woman began her introductions, her tone was rather flat, grumpy and straight to the point but Kara assumed she would be too had she been kept awake late at night to welcome a diplomatic party. The blonde took mercy’s outstretched hand and shook it enthusiastically.

“hi I’m Kara Zor-El, the High Chancellor’s emissary to Thorul and this is General Astra In-Ze, here on behalf of the Guild Council to oversee negotiations” Kara managed to hold in her yawn long enough to complete their introductions. It must have shown though because not a second later, Mercy had flashed a perfect eccedentesiast smile.

“You must be rather tired after such a long journey, today’s activities were postponed due to the delay” Mercy promptly spun around and dismissively motioned for them to follow along, this prompted an incredulous raise of eyebrows from Astra whilst Kara stared confused.

When Mercy showed no sign of stopping, the Kryptonians clambered after her trying to keep up. Within minutes they were lead up the grand staircase and shuffled into opposite rooms leaving Kara to pout solemnly at missing the opportunity to look around and Astra to grumble about the Minister of foreign affairs’ lack of decorum and propriety.

The lavishness of the bedrooms they’d been assigned wasn’t lost on Kara, despite being a neophyte civilization (compared to krypton) and the suddenness of their appearance on the cosmic map, Thorul was proving to be far more advanced than she’d anticipated. Despite the lack of substantial data, Kara resolved to judge the people by their merits and from what she’d observed so far, Thorulians were rather self-aware.

Most of the technology she’d seen so far was powered by batteries that absorbed solar energy, their roads were clean and their housing districts well planned. The eccentric style of architecture combined the neatness she was used to on krypton and the more archaic yet perplex styles she’d observed on her travels with her parents. From what she’d glimpsed, the people were happy and vivacious but she had yet to see all of Metropolia.

A quick glance around let Kara know that her luggage had been collected and deposited into her room, a neat package was set near a gift basket on the desk across the room and the colorful things caught Kara’s eye. She wandered over and inspected the oddly shaped fruit, nothing like she’d ever seen on krypton. Biting into a green oval shaped fruit, Kara became ensnared by the succulent taste, the yellow pulp dripping sweet nectar down her chin[1]; then she’d caught sight of purple, red and light green round fruit, attached to small woody vines[2]. She plucked one of each color and carefully bit into each; her taste buds were overrun by the flavors that she’d been experiencing. Yet there were more things to see than fruit.

Having lingered long enough on the sweet tasting fruit and wanting to conserve some for the morning, Kara moved onto the neatly stacked package. It was a glossy bound book with thick pages (Kara hadn’t held an actual book since her last visit to the archives the night before her inductance into the science guild, physical books were replaced by data crystals eons ago on Krypton). It was times like these that she was immensely grateful for her cervical neural translator. She flipped through the pages and little by little she came to know more about Thorul. Every bit of information that she read seemed to cause Kara’s mind to wander.

Thorulian cities were small: the largest city being the second capital **Themysciran**[3] **,** across the Red Ocean (Kara wondered if it was anything like the fire falls back on Krypton and hoped she would be able to find out) with a total of five hundred thousand Thorulians, then the planet’s Capital and seat to the throne **Metropolia**[4], the cultural center of the planet and the most colorful place on Thorul seemed to be **Gotha **[5]**, **with abundant festivals and art museums and a historium that recounted the “mass exodus” [6]as the guide called it at barely two hundred thousand. And on the opposite end of the spectrum was **Nationia**[7], or the lost city, with a bare population of 445. And while the book elaborated freely about Themysciran, Metropolia and Gotha, it barely mentioned anything of Nationia.

As she came to learn Thorul, as a planet, was nearly 4.6 billion years old, whilst the Thorulian civilization was barely into its fourth millennium! And yet looking through the book, it seemed they had overcome so much.

 

A quick glance outside her high arched window Kara realized that the sky had begun to lighten, and in that moment she’d noticed the glaring difference between krypton and Thorul. Whilst krypton greeted each morning to Rao’s merciful red light, Thorul awoke each day to the yellow rays of Ra[8]. The daybreak was much warmer than what she’s used to, but the feeling washes across her skin like the finest silk and somehow she’s already decided she likes it. With a heavy exhale, Kara spun and moved towards her bags; meetings should start soon after the formalities so she should probably get ready before Astra finds her in yesterday’s garb.

She decided to don her house colors for the day, the vibrant royal blue and majestic red of Rao. The outfit was a simple one; the dress a minimalistic off the shoulders blue dress bearing the El house crest in a darker shade of blue matched with a gold belt and a long red cape attached to a choker fastened around her neck.

As soon as she was dressed, three knocks came at her door. Astra stepped into the room with a broad smile lighting up her features.

“Little one, I’m glad you’re ready. I was just coming to get you” the general was in full gear; gone was the black under-armor suit, replaced by black inertron chainmail and rusted gold inertron armor.

“Do you really need to be wearing your armor aunt Astra?” Kara wondered aloud wondering internally if her aunt was here for different reasons than she was.

“I’m the general of the kryptonian fleet little one, it is an honor to wear this armor much like the science guild’s headband that you and Zor-El wear so proudly back home” Kara nodded mutely, she understood taking pride in one’s purpose but wearing war armor on a diplomatic mission sends out a counterproductive message.

“Yeah, I understand”

 

Astra nodded decisively “Now that that’s out of the way, minister Graves’ assistant dropped by earlier and informed me that we’re meeting some of the queen’s cabinet members at breakfast. I have some matters to oversee, I’ll meet you at the grand hall in twenty minutes, do not be late little one” the general warned and headed out before Kara could even reply.

Astra was acting odd, being short and proper with Kara, keeping her favorite niece at a distance and Kara didn’t like it one bit. But it wasn’t time to ponder such things, she needed to get to the grand hall before she was late.

Out of her assigned room and into the hall Kara went, following the path that she came down earlier that night. She tried to remember which way Mercy had lead her but her attention had been scattered when mercy showed them their rooms. It was inevitably her scatter mindedness and awe that distracted her enough to miss the dark figure engrossed in a book until it was too late. In her slack jawed admiration of the beauteous castle architecture, Kara had missed the person ambling down the hall towards her, with their nose buried in some old tome of some subject or another. In was an inevitability if you later ask Kara, that she run into the woman the way she did. In their distracted haze, neither woman noticed the other until they both collided and tumbled in a tangled mess onto the carpeted floor.

 

The pale woman shook herself free first, gathering her wits and pulling herself up into a seated position, her perfect eyebrows drew together before a look of recognition flitted across her features. In the mere seconds it took Kara to gather her bearings, the woman had stood poised over Kara, her face an unreadable mask and an outstretched arm towards the blonde, which she gratefully took.

 

“I am so so sorry, I didn’t see you there” the kryptonian rushed to apologize, trying to check if the stranger was hurt but it didn’t seem so.

The answering smile she received was nothing short of cold and impersonal yet it was still beautiful in a dangerous kind of way. Like a predator smiled at its’ prey.

“It’s quite alright, no harm done. Are you okay?” the stranger asked, Kara nodded and glanced more closely at the woman. She wore a white ruffle blouse with a long black pleated skirt and a champagne lace bolero jacket buttoned at the chest. Her hair was of the darkest onyx that Kara had ever seen, she might even compare it to the darkness of the phantom zone but the thought brought a shiver down her spine. Her face was a masterpiece of angular features; sharp jawline and high cheekbones, softened by plump limps and perfect eyebrows. Her pallid skin contrasted impeccably with her dark hair cascading down her shoulders but her look was set off exceptionally well through eyes that reminded Kara of the seas during a mid-winter morning. Slightly mismatched green eyes looked at her in intrigue, one eyebrow raised as those lips pulled into a devilish smirk. Kara may not have known it at the time, but right at that moment she’d been caught in the snare.

 

“I –uhm, I’m fine thank you” the blonde had to glance down, the blood rushing to her cheeks. At this woman’s feet lay a book bound in black leather, it looked worn and well loved. Bending down to retrieve it, she glanced at the title embossed in gold. ‘Nicholas Machiavelli’s The Prince’ read on the spine and at the bottom ‘1640’, the kryptonian handed the book back carefully.

“I hope my clumsiness didn’t do much damage to the book either, it seems like a treasured copy” Kara spoke up, locking eyes again but the stranger shook her head and dismissed the concerns with a gentle wave.

“It’s quite alright, nothing that can’t be replaced” the ravenette smiled and made to move away

“I’m Kara by the way, Kara Zor-El”

“It was nice meeting you Miss Zor-El, hope to see you around” the stranger winked and in a blink of an eye, she had disappeared. Kara looked around confused, wondering if the lack of sleep was inducing hallucinations but then again, her sore back was proof that the encounter had actually happened, right?

 

Or had she simply just…hit her head on the way down?

 

Kara shook herself off and continued down the hall, making it to the grand staircase and then into the great hall just as the cabinet members were beginning to sit.

She made her way towards her aunt Astra as inconspicuously as she could but even with the majority being preoccupied with side conversations, Kara could feel several sets of eyes boring into her. Kara plopped down next to her aunt heavily, prompting a reprehensive side-eye from Astra as she politely excused herself from the conversation and turned to her niece.

“You’re late. I warned you not to be late, Kara. Introductions were ten minutes ago” Astra reproached, thoroughly displeased with the blonde.

“I’m sorry aunt Astra, I got lost on the way and ran into someone…I think, I’m not sure” Kara’s brows furrowed.

“You think? You’re not sure you ran into someone?” Astra wondered in a harsh whisper “are you feeling alright, little one? Maybe you should skip the meetings today”

“No, no! I’m fine aunt Astra, it’s probably the travel lag catching up to me. The different atmosphere and lower gravity are messing with me I think. I’ll be fine I just need to adjust” Kara exhaled and banished thoughts of the raven haired stranger from her mind.

 

The large doors at the other end of the hall winced open gradually and a tiny smartly dressed woman stepped out, standing prim then turned to the side.

“Presenting her highness, Queen Lena Luthor the first of Thorul”

Kara watched as all the cabinet ministers present began to stand up, bowing at the waist and by the time the queen had stepped into the room even Kara and Astra had bowed in respect.

“Rise”

A simple word but a voice unmistakable. It couldn’t be, could it? Kara straightened and looked for the new face, up at the head of the table. There she sat, the woman Kara ran into; apparently, the reigning monarch of Thorul.

“Oh Rao” Kara cursed under her breath, Astra was going to kill her.

 

[1] A Mango

[2] Grapes, in three varieties

[3] Named after Themyscira

[4] Named after Metropolis

[5] Named after Gotham

[6] Leaving Earth-43

[7] Named after National City

[8] Named after the Egyptian God of the sun


	2. Chapter 2

The proceedings were long and winding, so much so that Kara nearly fell asleep twice. By the end of the meeting she probably knew every single minister present by name, and it didn’t surprise Kara when Mercy Graves turned out to be exactly as dry and bored as she sounded the previous night. Some of the other ministers were much more welcoming, the minister of Culture and media Nia Nal. The bubbly woman was a fresh of breath air so youthful and jubilant, Kara thought she might have found a kindred spirit among the stiff ministers.

The queen, whom she now knew was Lena Luthor, excused herself just as the meeting was adjourned and left without as much as a look back. Kara frowned at this but made no comment. Things were run differently on krypton but she would hold her tongue as to not create an inter-planetary crisis.  
The hustle and bustle of secretaries and some of the representatives cleared out within moments after the queen, the others branching off into groups of two or three, leaving the two kryptonian emissaries standing in the hall. It was a brief while but eventually one of the ministers had ambled over to them.  
Extending his hand, a short awkward man smiled brightly at Kara and the general

  
“hi! You must be our guests! I’m Winn Schott, the chief scientific adviser to her majesty’s government” he took Kara’s hand first and shook vigorously, then moved onto Astra who seemed even less impressed than she was with minister Graves.  
“hello Winn, I’m Kara Zor-El of the honorable House of El. I’m here on behalf of the high chancellor of krypton and this is General Astra In-Ze, here on behalf of the science council. A pleasure to meet you” the blonde flashed a sincere smile towards the man, which he reciprocated with ease. It seemed some of the people here were quite genuinely nice to Kara.

  
“uhm, yes well…I’m glad you both made it alright! The delay yesterday was unexpected and threw quite a few wrenches into the gears” Winn muttered the last part to himself but the emissaries were able to pick up on it quite easily. The turn of phrase was unfamiliar to the Kryptonians but Kara was much too polite to bring it up. The blonde simply nodded and glanced over to find Astra had already wandered over towards a short woman with red hair that donned black tactical gear.  
“speaking of late arrivals I sorta missed the introductions earlier, I got lost on my way to the grand hall. Would you mind giving me a brief on everyone? I would hate to offend anyone by not knowing who they are” Kara made sure to ask this as quietly as possible, hoping that Winn would be able to help her.

  
“yeah! Yeah that wouldn’t be a problem at all!” he laughed excitedly as if the gossip was just brimming on his tongue. He slipped his arm into hers and pulled her along as he made his way farther into the room. For a second, Kara hoped she didn’t make a huge mistake with this.  
First he headed towards the largest group and Kara recognized Nia instantly. A quick smile exchanged, she tuned back into Winn making introductions.  
First he introduced a tall dark haired woman, Samantha Arias, or Sam as she’d asked to be called. Sam is the minister of finance, handling the budget and expenses of the kingdom for the past few decades had been her job. The woman expressed her eagerness to working with the Kryptonians and that alone made Kara ecstatic.  
Then, Winn introduced the minister of education, a Helena Burtinelli. The woman dressed in dark blue made pleasantries, short but effective, then took her leave shortly after with a brief exchange with a brunette standing next to Astra.

  
The last person in their group was of the most interest to Kara. The woman with fiery red hair and skin as green as the fruit Kara had discovered last night looked as different from humans as Kryptonians did to Coluans. The woman was immensely beautiful nonetheless. She’d been introduced as Doctor Pamela Isley, secretary of state for the environment, but preferred Kara call her Ivy. The comment was accompanied by a smile and a lingering touch that Kara could only count as flirtatious. Kara nodded with a shy grin receiving a complicit elbow from Winn, barely noticing the eye roll Sam gave the green skinned woman.  
Winn, ever the enthusiast (and without warning), pulled Kara along towards the next group. Astra stood proudly next to four other women, one being as tall as Astra herself and equally well built. The other woman, Kara had noticed earlier, with burgundy hair and tactical gear. The remaining women however donned power suits, sharply pressed and immensely professional.

  
As they got closer, Winn seemed to become more and more reserved. One might say he shrunk down the closer they got to the group of women and her aunt. They had already noticed them approaching so asking if anything was bothering him was all too late.  
The shorter woman in tactical gear simply had to raise an eyebrow before Winn launched into a diatribe about Kara wanting to be introduced. He had shut up just as quickly as he had begun speaking with one quick glance from the same woman; Alex Danvers, a name Kara made sure to remember for later. Alex’s posture screamed military and she was proven to be right mere seconds after the woman introduced herself and the chief of defense staff and then introduced Lucy Lane, the minister of defense. Astra seemed to be most at ease within this group, chatting amicably with the others whilst keeping her shoulders squared and chin held high.

 

Kara prayed to Rao that she would be able to remember all these titles and names. It honestly baffled her but for all her knowledge she just could not figure out the naming traditions on this planet.

By the time everyone excused themselves from the hall, Minister Graves’ assistant had rejoined them and handed both Astra and Kara a packet containing their itineraries. Over the next few days, negotiations with different ministries and departments and meeting with representatives were to take place, and hopefully an allegiance can be forged. But, for the moment at least, Kara and Astra were free to explore the grounds.

It was hours later that found Kara in one of the many palace gardens. This one seemed the most secluded however. it was shaped like a circular maze with a single entrance that doubled as an exit, and a rather neat arrangement of Plumeria trees planted within the center of the maze that you could see from the entrance. A pergola bench occupied the central spot in the garden itself but was rather cleverly sequestered from prying eyes by the Plumeria trees.

  
The blonde took her time to walk the maze, the yellow beams of Ra’s light washed onto her from above and Kara had to admit that it felt quite energizing, she’d been feeling like a ton of energy was buzzing beneath her skin. She made it towards the center of the garden after a lengthy walk, ambling slowly towards the shaded pergola bench she noticed a dark figure, stark in contrast to the colorful surroundings. Kara carefully made her way forward, quietly as to not startle whoever was engrossed in their reading. The closer the blonde got, the more the figure seemed familiar until not two steps later she was greeted with a frowning Lena Luthor.

  
It was at that moment that Lena decided to look up from her book. The frown that the queen sported vanished almost immediately, replaced by the stoicism that Kara came to associate with the pallid woman.

  
“Miss Zor-El, what a surprise” Lena set her bookmark to her current page and marked her line, snapping her book shut lightly. She gathered her long tail coat and lowered her legs off the bench, making room for the diplomat to sit.

  
“Your highness! I’m sorry if I’m intruding. I didn’t realize anyone was here” Kara curtsied politely, intent on not making the same mistake she made earlier in the day. Despite the apology, Lena merely waved it away and motioned for the blonde to sit beside her.

  
“It’s quite alright, It was intended to be this way. Much more private than the library. Have a seat miss Zor-El”

  
“about this morning, had I known you were our host I wouldn’t have been so tongue tied your highness. I-” Lena’s lilting laugh cuts off Kara’s rambling readily.  
“please, call me Lena. Titles aren’t so necessary when in private”

 

“well, if I’m calling you Lena…” blushed lightly and glanced down, taking a seat next to the queen of Thorul.

  
“Kara it is” Lena chuckled lightly, her smile bright and nose crinkling adorably.

 

They had sat there together until Ra’s yellow rays began to fade into a rich crimson, a color not unlike Rao’s benevolent light.

  
“you know, I never expected Thorul to be quite so beautiful” Kara leaned back and let out a content sigh. Their conversation had taken them across many topics, mostly about Thorulian culture and how Krypton was really not that different. They spoke of the weather and Thorul’s yellow sun, of the bluest oceans Kara had ever seen and of the technologies that Lena and her scientists were creating. The queen proved to be very knowledgeable. Always a scientist first and a ruler second, though the matriarch admitted that her position was limited and mostly vestigial if you could call it that.

  
“from what we’ve discussed today it seems you’re more than capable of creating your own terraforming technologies, so why reach out to a planet an entire star system away?” Kara wondered, her inquisitive eyes landing on the brilliant brunette sitting beside her.  
“well for one, we are at least another decade away from implementing all of our theorems into working technology and the population is growing exponentially. If we were to wait until we could do it ourselves then the cities will face overpopulation problems. It will bring along with it a greater need for nutrition and habitat and further infrastructure to sustain Thorulians. It will put massive strain on everyone. It stands to reason that asking for help from a civilization that readily utilizes the technology would be more efficient for us and profitable to them”

  
Kara nodded thoughtfully. It made sense; it was utilitarian. Import the technology, forge relations with an advanced planet such as krypton and spare Thorulians the hardships.  
“I see, you have a good point. Let’s hope the future is bright for both our worlds… I’d love nothing more than to keep talking to you, getting to know you”  
“darling, it would be my pleasure” Lena smirked and Kara’s mind stuttered to a stop. How could anything be this attractive?  
The queen’s unrestrained laughter is what broke Kara’s trance a few moments later

  
“did I say that out loud? I really did not mean to say that out loud” the blush that colored Kara’s cheeks was so endearing it made Lena giggle. The blonde looked away in embarrassment but the queen simply shook her head. Glancing up through her lashes, Kara was greeted with the most genuine smile she’d ever seen grace the woman’s lips.  
Lena leaned in closer and whispered conspiratorially “I would ask if you’ve ever seen your eyes. They’re a shade between sapphire and azure that is quite honestly breathtaking”  
Smirk in place, brow arched seductively, the monarch reached for her book and stood up just as the minister to the crown breached through the trees and hurried towards them.

  
The woman seemed winded which struck Lena as odd.  
“Jess, are you alright?”

A breathless Jess struggled to speak for a moment, hunched over and panting. The moment she could speak, she uttered the last thing Lena would’ve expected on a sunny day like this.

“Your Highness, they’re staging a coup!”


	3. Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little insight into how Thorul came to be and how the Kryptonians got involved in this situation.

[Triangulum Galaxy - Messier 33; HD 13189 Star Giant, Planet HD 13189 b]

They weren’t prepared for this. They planned for everything except for this. If any one of them even set foot outside the Venture they would die a long agonizing death. This was an utter disaster, the entire contingent looked to their captain for guidance.

They didn’t have enough resources to leave the planet and look for another, and returning to earth was out of the question. Lena wondered what went wrong but her pragmatic mind had shifted into damage control mode rather than dwell on mistakes of the past. A state of emergency was declared and a plan began to form in Lena’s mind.

Taking stock of what resources they had, Lena called the heads of the rebellion into a meeting. The brightest minds that engineered their escape from earth gathered in the command hub of the venture.

Jack Spheer, Dr. Pamela Isley, Winn Schott, Dr. Amelia Hamilton, Eve Tessmacher, Dr. Alex Danvers and Lena Luthor were sat dispersed in the hub, each in a state of suspension between shock and disbelief. They may have just sentenced every single one of them to death.

Disbelief was rife among the scientists that had worked tirelessly to make sure something like this _didn’t_ happen.

“It doesn’t matter how it happened. What matters is that we have limited technology and supplies so we need to ensure that all of our preparation does not go to waste!” trust jack to be the sound of reason in a time of crisis. Lena remained silent, thoughtful, as the rest of the group squabbled. It was understandable, they were all anxious and afraid. When the group became too volatile and loud for her to concentrate, Lena decided it was time to intervene.

“Alex, Amelia, you’re both experts on our biology. Is it possible to reverse our species’ distaste for yellow sunlight?”

“It could be possible to revert or increase tolerance some way maybe” Alex glanced at Amelia. It was a tough feat but given that they were human before the turn and humans required sunlight to survive; it wasn’t far-fetched to thing reversing their plague was too “we’ll need time and research to look into it” Amelia threw in, time and resources were required. Both things they were short on at the moment.

“Great, thank you, that’s all I’m asking. We’ll discuss resource distribution in a second. Jack, Winn, do you think the exosuits can be modified to filter out sunlight? Instead of mass producing the suits for all of the security personnel, maybe we can limit them to scientists and reckon squads for the time being?”

“Lena I don’t think we have the materials necessary. Filtering sunlight from an orange giant isn’t something we’ve ever done before” the protest came from Winn. He was a coding genius but he was a little too nearsighted for Lena.

“It won’t be if you could miniaturize the Venture’s quantum deflector shields and fit them into the exosuits at key points. They’re capable of deflecting near a hundred fold radiation index of what this planet receives annually” Lena pitched in, silently rejoicing that her quantum technology will be able to save them a lot of pain and suffering.

Jack seemed a little skeptical but a split second decision seemed to make his features light up “maybe we can integrate them into my nanobots! That way people wouldn’t need the exosuits at all and if we supersize the shield generators we can probably create a sort of protective atmosphere around the whole planet?”

“The planet is too large a scale for our current resources, maybe we should limit ourselves to protecting people from incineration first and get on with the terraforming” the Luthor rebutted. The ideas thrown around were ambitious, she liked that, but for the moment they were slightly out of their reach.

“In case the nanobots do the trick, maybe we can postpone the genetics research to cure vampirism. We’ll go with whichever comes to head first. In the meantime, Ivy we really need to re-calibrate. Check if your plants can grow under this sun as opposed to the red sun we planned originally. If not then no shield of cure will save us from extinction. In the meantime, I’ll coordinate with the canteen to sort out rations and HemoPlasma production”

Nods were observed all around the room. This was as close to a contingency plan as they could manage on such short notice, they’ll make changes as they go. One meeting down, now to tackle the rest of the contingent. With Jess and Cat grant by her side, Lena was able to tackle meetings with the security personnel which will lead the future law enforcement and armies of the planet and law makers (including one Lucy Lane) then they tackled meetings with the historians. It would take a little time to adjust to 31 hour days to maintain their current calendar and a leap year every third year of the cycle.

Her meeting with the canteen rations manager and the head of HemoPlasma production was the most important. The raw material from the animal based HemoPlasma would only be viable if the animals are alive and reproducing; this hinged entirely on Pamela’s research coming to fruition. Their plant based HemoPlasma would last longer due to the ship’s ability to produce the needed raw materials. It was self-sustainable. Lena was at least proud of her foresight in this matter.

Both Cat Grant and her protégée Nia Nal had taken it upon themselves to inform the rest of the contingent of Lena’s plan and make sure they understood that their cooperation would ensure their survival.

 

The road to a thriving Thorul (as they came to call it) was riddled with missteps and mistakes but their collective efforts helped them get through the most difficult of situations. The Quantum Reflector Nanobots (or QRNs) were the first innovation to be celebrated on Thorul; they allowed reckon teams donning the Exosuits of Lena’s design to move out into the harsh terrain and map out the best locations to set up camp.

Next came the super-sized versions of the shield generators to provide larger areas outside the venture where the contingent could use. The shields also allowed for plants to grow and animals to be let out of their cages.

It all seemed to be coming together and within the first two decades, Nationia was born. It was the first settlement on Thorul and the contingent’s prized achievement. It was all fine and dandy, Thorulians taking leaps and bounds in development. Creating jobs in construction and commerce and trade, it was starting to look a lot like a country. But much to Lena’s dismay, the struggle for power and governance soon led them to the brink of war; with no clear leader for their world, many factions began to squabble for land and resources.

It was then that the original innovators of the mass exodus came together to find a solution with the exception of Lena Luthor herself. Lena had already began rebuilding what was left of LexCorp under the brand of L-Corp. making away with the patents from her father-s company sure as hell pissed off Lex and Lilian but she was the rightful heir to the company after her mother and brother’s descent into madness.

It was a shock for Lena to find that most of the contingent had voted to elect her a sovereign for the planet. She was adamant on refusing this position of absolute power but as it turned out, Jack had anticipated her rejection and petitioned that it would be a constitutional monarchy where they would all have a say in how things were handled. With much reluctance and with council from Jess, Cat and Eve, Lena acquiesced.

Nationia was beyond salvation by the time elections and negotiations were well underway and ministers were agreed upon. It was with a heavy heart that Thorulians abandoned Nationia and set out to build themselves a country they would be proud of once more.

Time and immortality seemed to be their friend. Half a millennia later when the infrastructure was available and their existence wasn’t threatened by the second, Thorulians began to thrive. Cities such as Metropolia, Themysciran and Gotha evolved into rising spires and sleek designs. Space ports were built and embassies were opened in the name of Thorul galaxies over.

By the time Thorul was recognized as a planet, with its own governing system and its armies; the justice league had been restored and renewed. The old members had retired and were replaced by their offspring. The carnage of the blood league and the Luthors was naught but a blip in the history books. The Luthor name had perished with Lex and Lilian and Lena was a name only remembered for her inventions within the scientific community but nothing else.

It was ironic how the plague started with a member of the justice league, how superman infected her brother and the world came tumbling down. Lena had been curious to know how earth 43 was restored so she decided to look into it. With how far Thorul had come and her position in the government, it allowed her perks and connections that came in handy. Apparently, not long after the venture’s exodus Lex figured out the secret to jumping universes from the ship’s data log. A little extra investigation showed that lex and the blood league decided to conquer earth 13. Lena was far from surprised, if she was honest. It was just like Lex to take advantage of a situation and try to further his own interests at others’ expense. However it pleased the queen regnant what had befallen them all. The sorceress Annataz had intercepted Lex’s invasion and turned their blood lust into a caffeine addiction. It was rather comical in Lena’s eyes. She would have to see if she contact this sorceress for the benefit of Thorulians.

It seemed the more they built and traveled, the more the planet disagreed with them. By the end of the second millennia, giant hail storms battered the shields of their cities, immense heatwaves menaced their animals and drought wrecked their agricultural seasons. Geostorms across the planet was the herald of their destruction. Within the first three centuries, their terraforming had to take a backseat to the stabilization of the planet. The following several centuries were spent maintaining a brittle balance until the people rallied to find a sustainable solution.

It was then that parliament conceded to ask for help. Krypton was widely known across the galaxy for its innovative technology. Everyone knew how Val-El lead the rebellion and saved the planet from assured destruction and how his grandchildren Jor-El and Zor-El stabilized the core for millenniums to come.

A proposition was drafted and addressed to the High Chancellor of the council. Alura In-Ze was a cautious woman, her reply came a time later offering to first build friendly relations between their planets before handing over technologies that could prove fatal. In the wake of the communications between the Thorulian monarchy and the Kryptonian Oligarchy, a Thorulian embassy was opened in Argo city on krypton, what followed were a series of treaties that fortified the alliance between the two planets.

Tension seemed to rise easily within the Thorulian government, the people didn’t take lightly this procrastination while Thorul’s fate hung in the balance. Reassurances from their queen did little to sooth the ire that was rapidly rising, it took decisive action on behalf of the queen and strong incentive to prompt the Kryptonians to begin the trade exchanges.

 

Within a decade of the commencement of trade relations, the queen had requested a representative of krypton’s High Chancellor and the Guild council come to Thorul to finalize the terms and conditions of the long term alliance between Thorul and Krypton. With a promise exchanged between the heads of the planets, it seemed the future looked bright for Thorul.


End file.
